The overall desire to combine exercise with enjoyment of the outdoors has greatly increased such exercise activities as jogging, golfing, skiing and other outdoor athletic pursuits. Winter activities on ice have been primarily limited to ice skating, ice fishing and ice boat sailing. Ice skating and ice boat sailing both involve a considerable amount of energy, whereas ice fishing involves very little opportunity for exercise. Bicycling on the other hand is considered primarily to be a warm weather sport particularly in the northern climates when snow and ice make conventional bicycling virtually impossible.
Although ice sled and cycle devices which operate on the ice have been disclosed, none of the prior art devices have exhibited a combination of efficient operation and safe controls conveniently available to the drivers/operators of such ice vehicles. Thus such prior vehicles were not dependable, particularly for use by the senior citizens where safety and efficiency of operation are a combination of features that are requisite for use and enjoyment of an ice vehicle. Such vehicles must not only be safe, efficient in their operation and capable of use on ponds and lakes which are frozen over during the winter season; but also such vehicles must be capable of operation at respectable speeds, viz., 25 miles per hour and higher, immediately coasting at these speeds and making very sharp turns and traversing curves while held at an angle of approximately 45 degrees with the ice without sliding on same, as a slide would be dangerous to the driver. Consequently, an ice vehicle possessing features not only capable of high speed operation and suitable for racing, long gliding runs, negotiating of sharp turns, and a quick and responsive braking system resistant to slides causing spills and injury, thereby granting the operator/driver the ability to raise and lower the drive wheel without his/her hands leaving the handle bars constitutes a highly desired combination of features not disclosed or available within the teachings of the prior art.
U.S. Pat. No. 504,625 issued to J. Schmid is directed to an ice velocipede having a sled steering and propelling means. In the ice velocipede of Schmid, if the machine is to be propelled on ice, the shoes or skates 46 and 50 (FIG. 2) are applied to the front and rear sled runners 18 and 15, respectively. A lever-operated arrangement enables the driver to raise or lower the wheel to the extent so as to tilt the frame of the driving wheel 25 and the height of the wheel in relation to the rest of the machine may thus be regulated, viz., the extent of bight of the teeth 26 on the ice can be regulated. By means of the lever 39, the swinging frame may be adjusted so as to bring the driving wheel in the right position to cause its teeth to strike effectively upon the snow or ice. There is no teaching in Schmid of providing for coasting, no less an arrangement which is conveniently located at the fingertips of the operator so as to permit coasting of the Schmid ice velocipede at high speeds in a safe and efficient manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 586,412 issued to C. O. Anderson is directed to an ice velocipede having front and rear runners, 6 and 18, respectively, in combination with a pedal-driven propelling wheel 9 which has inner and outer rims, 11 and 13, respectively, with a plurality of springs 14 between said rims. The outer rim is provided with a plurality of sharp teeth or projections 15 that serve to engage the ice or snow, so that when the wheel is rotated the velocipede is driven. On the end of the frame 19 is a rotatable gear-wheel 25 to engage a rack bar provided with a winding-drum 26, to which is connected a cable 27, that extends forwardly and allows the operator to turn the handle 30, thus providing for an adjustment controlling the extent to which the teeth 15 of the propelling wheel 9 bite, viz., penetrate, the ice to propel the machine. There is no teaching in Anderson of permitting the operator to totally disengage the drive wheel 9 from the ice or to conveniently coast the Anderson ice velocipede. Moreover, it is observed that in order to control the depth and bite of the teeth 15 on wheel 9, it is necessary for the operator to remove his/her hand from the handlebars into a lower position to crank handle 30.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,303,637 issued to A. E. Cowan is directed to a tri-runner sleigh having a propelling wheel 21 with radially extending spurs or projections 22, adapted to engage in ice or snow and propel the sleigh when the wheel 21 is revolved. Associated with the propelling mechanism is a lifting device which consists of a vertically disposed lifting rod 26, pivotally connected at 27 to an arm 24. The rod 26 extends up between the left side and right side frame members 2 and 1, respectively, and is pivoted at 28 to an operating lever 29 pivotally connected to a collar 4. The operator thus must remove at least one hand from the handlebars 10 to operate the lever 29 in order to elevate the propelling mechanism 21 clear of the ice or snow to permit coasting. The location of the propelling wheel 21 substantially forward of the seat 7, combined with the direct pedal/axle arrangement centrally positioned with respect to the propelling wheel 21, restricts the pedaling efficiency of the Cowan tri-runner sleigh by providing poor mechanical advantage to the operator. Moreover, positioning of the spurs or projections between the legs of the operator constitutes a possible source of injury to the driver of the Cowan sleigh in the event of slippage and falling upon the ice.
U.S. Pat. No. 469,227 issued to W. G. Bouse is directed to a 3-runner sled having rounded runners and having front and rear gripping wheels I and F, respectively. The rear wheel F is the propelling wheel located vertically between the sides of the fork A'. The gripping wheel has points H to allow it to be propelled over ice or snow. Springs G' connect the wheel axle supports to a propelling wheel F to the extremities of the fork A which constantly tend to pull down the wheel F maintaining contact with the ice and assisting to prevent slipping. The front wheels I are provided to afford a grip for the front runner so as to permit it to turn in smooth places and assist in avoiding sliding. Hand-lever L, pivoted at 1, elevates or depresses the rod K, which in conjunction with springs m, may be employed to force down the wheels I when the rod K is released. It will be observed that there is no provision in the Bouse sled to permit coasting by elevation of the rear wheel F. Moreover, no coaster/brake mechanism is disclosed. The Bouse sled suffers from the same problems previously mentioned with high speed turns for the same reasons as Cowan.
U.S. Pat. No. 526,745 issued to G. Riexinger is directed to an ice velocipede having a front skate or runner b, the lower longitudinal edge d of which is beveled to a sharp edge (FIG. 4) and double rear runners or skates K K' likewise beveled at d. A hollow propelling wheel, consisting of hub L and a U-shaped rim M with the sprocket wheel 1, connected with a sprocket wheel G by a chain-belt g. Located within U-shaped rim M there are a series of spring loaded dogs N pivoted at n and terminating in points o (FIG. 2). These dogs protrude through a series of holes p having at the outer ends of studs R lock-nuts Q Q'. Spiral springs P are interposed between the rim and the dogs around the studs enabling the pushing of the dogs tangentially from the rim M. There is no provision in the Riexinger ice velocipede for lifting the propelling wheel from the ice and permitting the driver to coast the vehicle. Riexinger does disclose a rather complicated scraper brake arrangement employing a handle U to operate on a brake lever S pivoted to the lower end of one of the branches J (FIG. 1) and connected to U via four connecting rods V'", V", V' and V and bell cranks W' and W to cause the downwardly bent long arm S to act as a scraper on the ice with its point T. This brake lever U is pivoted to one arm of the steering handle C at u.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,268,229 issued to F. X. Frank is directed to a bicycle sled having a rear-mounted drive wheel J equipped with radially projecting gripping studs 2. The Frank sled is equipped with front runner 28 equipped with lever bar 29 and has a double back runner 17 composed of spaced members 18 with the drive wheel J being positioned between members 18. A coil tension spring 26 acts to maintain the rear runner 17 in a substantially horizontal position and also acts to absorb shocks and jars due to unevenness in the ice surface.
All of these prior art patents lack a teaching of adjustments that can be made while operating at full speed.